It was a dichotomy of teams meeting for the Big Ten Championship. UCLA was co-regular season champion, sporting the numerous All-Conference players, including Player of the Year Roch Cholowsky. Nebraska, the 8 seed, had only one player make any of the 3 All-Conference teams, was a true team reaching its peak, fighting to keep its season going.
The Huskers rolled out Ty Horn, who had struggled on Tuesday in the pool play game. On the plus side, he was so ineffective early, that he didn't throw many pitches, giving him a chance to come back for this game.